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compassion on him and said, ‘Write what thou wilt and I will carry it to her.’ When he heard this, he was transported for joy and calling for pen and ink and paper, wrote the following verses:
O Heyat en Nufous, be gracious and incline Unto a lover who for severance doth pine.
I was in all delight and ease of life, but now Distraction and despair consume this heart of mine.
I company the night with sorrows in discourse And wakefulness cleaves fast all tides unto mine eyne.
Pity a lover sad, afflicted with desire, Whose lids are ulcered aye with yearning’s tears of brine;
And when the morning comes at last, the tardy morn, He’s drunken and distraught with passion’s heady wine.
Then he folded the letter and kissing it, gave it to the old woman; after which he put his hand to a chest and took out a second purse of a hundred dinars, which he gave her, saying, ‘Divide this among the slave-girls.’ She refused it and said, ‘By Allah, O my son, I am not with thee for aught of this!’ But he thanked her and said, ‘Thou must indeed take it.’ So she took it and kissing his hands, returned to the princess, to whom said she, ‘O my lady, I have brought thee somewhat the like whereof is not with the people of our city, and it comes from a handsome young man, than whom there is not a goodlier on the surface of the earth.’ ‘O my nurse,’ answered the princess, ‘and whence cometh he?’ ‘From the parts of Hind,’ replied the old woman; ‘and he hath given me this dress of gold brocade, embroidered with pearls and jewels and worth the kingdom of Chosroës and Cæsar.’ So saying, she opened the dress and spread it out before her, whereupon the whole palace was illumined by its brightness, by reason of the beauty of its fashion and the wealth of pearls and jewels with which it was broidered, and all who were present marvelled at it. The princess examined it and judging it to be worth no less
